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HDMI cables. Worth ...
 

[Closed] HDMI cables. Worth spending a bit extra?

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Is it worth paying extra?


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:14 pm
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No.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:16 pm
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Yes. Make sure you get the directional ones as well.
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🙂


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:16 pm
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not at all, save your money 🙂


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:17 pm
 ton
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no, not at all.
£1.99 ones we sell are just as good as £49.99 ones we sell.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:17 pm
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If it's for a long run then probably worth spending a little, and i mean little bit more, other than that, as above, no.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:19 pm
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Worth spending a bit extra

yeh, IMO
wouldn't buy one for a quid - wouldn't go over a few quid either though


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:20 pm
 rs
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I have monster carbon fibre titanium coated purple anodized hdmi cables and they give me 50% extra pixels on my tv!


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:22 pm
 Rio
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Depends what you're doing with it. If you're threading it somewhere where it's hard to get at then it's worth paying a couple of quid for something reasonably robust. Otherwise the 10p freebie that came with your DVD player is fine.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:22 pm
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Ok, its for a PS3 so next question - Buy the Sony PS3 one for £18. Or an equivalent known brand one for about the same money? Also, bloke in office says get a 10.2 one?


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:23 pm
 ton
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over a distance less than 10m it makes no differance......trust me.
i sell this stuff for a living.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:25 pm
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If you're running Blu Ray to a HD Projector then yes. I noticed a massive difference changed to Chord cables.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:25 pm
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ton - Member
over a distance less than 10m it makes no differance......trust me.
i sell this stuff for a living

an honest salesman!


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:27 pm
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Just get a cheap one - no need to spend £18 unless you need a massively long one.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:27 pm
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I use cheapo/freebie ones for short runs. >5m, I went with something (still quite cheap) from [url= http://www.ukhdmi.com ]ukhdmi.com[/url]. All looks tickety boo on a 10ft wide projection screen using a PS3 as source.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:28 pm
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In my heady days of being "into" hi-fi, I listened to different cables and there IS a difference. Different doesn't mean better though and an expensive cable may sound/look naff to you.

Maybe A/V cables is different again, but my advice is if you can try before you buy, do so. Hopefully you'll notice no difference 😀


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:28 pm
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 ton
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mf.........perfect 8)


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:30 pm
 Drac
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If you're running Blu Ray to a HD Projector then yes. I noticed a massive difference changed to Chord cables.

The only person in the world to then.

Makes no odds what so ever as it's digital, unless like Ton says over a certain length. I had the figure of 10' in my head but I'll trust Ton.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:31 pm
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Stilltortoise hifi cables are different again. Used to sell HDMI leads for consoles when I worked in games shop, no difference at all. Always get someone who recons they can tell but it's BS


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:34 pm
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Cables = Bollocks.

And I am really into music and hi fi


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:36 pm
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[url= http://www.futureshop.co.uk/wireworld-platinum-starlight-hdmi-to-hdmi-cable-20m-p-3479.html ]Just get this one and you're done.
[/url]
...literally.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:37 pm
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I thought HDMI was all digital, so I dont see how it can be.

If the digital signal gets to the other end of the cable, I dont see how one can be better than another.

In the analogue world, yes perhaps, but not the digital.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:37 pm
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Maybe A/V cables is different again

digital only [b]might[/b] be different to analogue ?


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:37 pm
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I seriously do not believe anyone could tell in a blind test, not even with a test card screen, never mind when in real-life use.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:38 pm
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Fair enough, but I still think it's best to try for yourself. If you [i]think [/i] you can see/hear a difference and it makes you feel fuzzy and warm because you bought the fancy cables, then that must be a good thing...

...a bit like most of the mountain bike kit we "discuss" on here 😉


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:38 pm
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Further reading...

[url] http://www.audioholics.com/education/cables/long-hdmi-cable-bench-tests/evaluation-conclusion [/url]

summary snippets...
# At lengths less than 4 meters you can just about use silly string (OK, not really) and get HDMI to pass at any current resolution. At less than 3 meters you'll even extend that to 12-bit color and possibly the next crazy idea HDMI Licensing decides to throw at consumers. Don't spend a lot on these cables and if you want to save money you won't let anyone at a big box store talk you into buying from them.

# At long lengths (over 10 meters) you really need to pay attention to the manufacturer if you don't want to risk running into potential problems with 1080p and future formats such as Deep Color. With that said, just about any cable at or under 10 meters will pass 720p/1080i and nearly everyone will pass 1080p at 8-bit color as well.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:38 pm
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Jamie - Member
Just get this one and you're done.

...literally.


I dunno - you get free delivery.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:39 pm
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If you're running Blu Ray to a HD Projector then yes. I noticed a massive difference changed to Chord cables.


The only person in the world to then.

Makes no odds what so ever as it's digital, unless like Ton says over a certain length. I had the figure of 10' in my head but I'll trust Ton.

Just because a cable is carrying a digital signal doesn't mean it isn't susceptible to rf interference, crosstalk etc.
Also, I suspect that most "Blu Ray to a HD Projector" cable runs are "over a certain length".


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:39 pm
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makes no difference so get cheap but whatever floats your boat if you want to spend a load of money to experience the joys of the placebo affect dont let us stop you


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:39 pm
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...a bit like most of the mountain bike kit we "discuss" on here

Well, and noting the wink, not really. Binary is on/off. It either works or it doesn't. A bike component can not be judged in such 'ahem' binary terms, so there can be more room for conjecture on quality, perceived or otherwise..


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:41 pm
 Drac
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Just because a cable is carrying a digital signal doesn't mean it isn't susceptible to rf interference, crosstalk etc.

It's minimal so doesn't up.

Also, I suspect that most "Blu Ray to a HD Projector" cable runs are "over a certain length".

Why would they, that surely is do purely down the individual set up.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:42 pm
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fisha - Member
I thought HDMI was all digital, so I dont see how it can be.

If the digital signal gets to the other end of the cable, I dont see how one can be better than another.

In the analogue world, yes perhaps, but not the digital.

Here's a quote for you: "The right amplitude at the wrong time is the wrong amplitude"

Now I'm not in anyway suggesting that the expensive AV cable business isn't 99% snake oil, but just because a signal is digital, doesn't mean it's always perfect.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:44 pm
 DezB
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the fact that the signal is digital is not a guarantee that cables make no difference - but the hdmi spec is rigid and robust enough to ensure that there is little, if any, difference between hdmi cables.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:48 pm
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I have seen some cheapy cable with 'slack' end connectors though

I bought a dozen or so for a fiver at a car boot sale that are branded Sky [so nicked from work I guess] that are absolutely fine on everything I've hooked them up to
I'm used to looking at broadcast quality feeds most days so I tend to be a bit picky


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:48 pm
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Binary is on/off. It either works or it doesn't

but surely the point is that not all the ons and offs are necessarily being transmitted. Are we all falling into the "digital is perfect" trap (again)?

Just to add, I have NO IDEA about HDMI cables 🙂


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:51 pm
 Drac
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If they're not being transmitted it's as good as off so nothing happens.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:56 pm
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I use Asda smart price HDMI 1m cables for my devices - can't complain at all when displaying 1080p from PS3 and sending sound to Onkyo amp. Less than £2!


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 4:57 pm
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I'm in danger of straying into territory that I don't know enough about, but an "off" in binary/digital is not the same as "nothing". Besides which, what if an "on" does not get transmitted?

Someone, please come and put me out of my misery 😆


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 5:00 pm
 Drac
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Besides which, what if an "on" does not get transmitted?

Then it's as good as an off like I said. Least that's how I understand it.


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 5:11 pm
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Just get this one and you're done.

At first I thought that cable was £799, which I thought was stupidly expensive, then I realised it was in fact originally[b] £7999.95[/b]. Had to look a few times to confirm that, thinking it must be a typo error, but no...

SEVEN [b]THOUSAND[/b] NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE POUNDS AND NINETY FIVE PENCE.

For a bit of wire.

And there's children starving around the World.

FFS....


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 5:17 pm
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They can't eat hdmi cable tho can they elf?

Just make suer the cables are directional - and whatever you do don't tangle them up or have loops. teh elecy gets stuck in the loops


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 5:25 pm
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Then it's as good as an off like I said

which will make a difference. In binary 11 is a very different number from 10 (as it is in base 10 as well of course)


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 5:29 pm
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Just because a cable is carrying a digital signal doesn't mean it isn't susceptible to rf interference, crosstalk etc.

Digital kit has error checking stuff like parity bit encoding etc which should sort out any losses afaik. I just set up our new hd tv stuff with "cheap" cables and the picture is perfect as they're only about a metre long.

I don't know how the people at comet etc are allowed to get away with what they were trying to sell us which was basically completely made up nonsense - the guy was trying to make us believe that a "slower" cheap cable will make things appear more pixelated and that only the £70 monster cable and monster power supply with noise filtering will give you the highest resolution and colour reproduction. When asked to demo this cable compared to the cheaper cable he wouldn't, yet insisted the monster was "just better."

I am wondering whether a "better" cable would work better in our home cinema system though - not for picture but for sound sync issues. The sound from our tv goes through Panasonics ARC (audio return channel) which sends it from the telly via hdmi lead to the bluray/sound system and then out through the 5.1 speakers rather than crappy tv ones. We sometimes experience the audio being out of sync (comes out slightly after the picture so the audio delay thing is useless, we need a picture delay!) using Sky+HD and just wondering whether something more expensive would help with this or whether the sound just can't be processed quick enough by the receiver? ton, any thoughts?


 
Posted : 03/11/2010 5:31 pm
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